“You know,” she said as they turned and began to walk inside, hand in hand. “I have a better idea. Let’s skip the coffee and tea and open a bottle of wine instead. We can sit out here and watch the sun finish going down.”
This was undoubtedly the last night it was just the two of them, and she wanted to take advantage of it. Not that she minded what was coming. On the contrary, she was experiencing rushes of excitement when she thought about what they were building here. Adam, as she dubbed their newest member, was a wonderful start to their pack.
Her reward was a big smile and a squeeze of her hand. “You always know exactly the right thing to do. My world was so boring before you came along. I can’t even imagine how crazy I’d be right now if you hadn’t brought me into the life. I’d heard stories of werewolves, but I never imagined them to be real. I sure as hell never imagined how incredible it was to be one. Thank you.” Little Wolf kissed her on the top of the head.
Bellona pushed up on her toes and touched her lips to Little Wolf’s. “Happy to help.”
Chapter Five
Lily stepped back off the wide porch and started to walk in the direction of her car. Time to make haste toward town and the privacy of a hotel. “I am not going to stay here.”
Honest to God, this was a first. She’d run up against resistance like Jayne’s many times, and it was something she was well schooled in how to handle. She was a pro in many different areas. The idea she was to stay in the home of her resistor was a whole different scenario that she had no idea how to handle. It was bad enough she’d have to work with this highly combative sheriff, but spending 24 / 7 with her in her home was absolutely out of the question. Granted, she was cute, and that detail would make the sting a little less. But it didn’t make up for her poor attitude and the clear desire to be in total control of everything. Lily needed to do her work without the distraction of someone who was obviously going to fight her every step of the way. Cute only got her so far.
The other glitch was a little more complicated. Though she only occasionally had to pull it out of her toolbox, if it became necessary she might have to change. That was not something she wanted to do in the company of strangers or, worse, unbelievers. In the safety of a group of other Jägers it was fine. In the presence of someone who truly believed and appreciated what she and others of preternatural abilities could contribute, no problem. In the house of a sheriff who thought she and others like her were crackpots and who wanted her a million miles away, changing in her presence was definitely not fine.
In short, staying in the sheriff’s personal residence was quite out of the question. No way was she, or any of her team, staying here under any circumstances. They would book rooms in one of the local hotels she’d spied on her way through town, and that was that.
“You’ll stay here,” Jayne insisted, undeterred by Lily’s insistence to the contrary. In fact, it seemed to Lily that she stood a little taller and her eyes were a little brighter. The impression Lily got was that she was hell-bent on getting her way. Oh, just let her try. This woman had no idea what she was up against. Lily might be little in stature, but she didn’t back down to anyone even if they were carrying a gun.
“We will stay in town.” She was equally insistent. Sheriff Quarles wasn’t the first strong personality she’d run up against. For hundreds of years she’d been standing up against those in positions of so-called authority. Holding her ground wasn’t a problem.
“No,” Jayne said, her confidence still clear in her voice. “You won’t. You don’t have to like me, but on this you’re going to do as I ask.”
Actually now she had her less annoyed and more curious. Lily’s own ability to stand tall and fierce in the face of any combatant normally worked to her advantage. Typically, she could back down the most unrelenting opposition, yet this woman wasn’t yielding an inch. Had to give her props for that. “Why?” There was clearly some agenda the sheriff wasn’t sharing quite yet. Time to find out what that was.
Jayne blew out a long breath as her posture relaxed. She stuffed her hands into her pockets, and the eyes so intense a moment ago lost some of their fierceness. “Look,” she said in a voice that was more pleading than intense. “This is a small town and people talk a lot. I know you’ve probably been in places like this before, and I’m sure you understand what happens in a community this size. These are good people who live here, and they are already scared shitless over the killings. If you and your team check into a hotel, it will be all over town in about thirty seconds, and the implications of what and who you are will scare them even more. I don’t want that to happen. So the reality behind my demand that you stay here is that it’s really less about me and more about the people I’m here to protect.”
Reason that appealed to her emotions was about the last thing she was expecting to hear. Well played, Sheriff, well played. In fact, her whole argument was pretty solid, and honestly, Lily was inclined to agree with her except for one small detail that appeared to have passed her by. “Will they not talk just as much if we stay with you?”
Jayne wasn’t wrong in her observation that Lily had been in small towns before. In point of fact, she’d been in thousands of them, and she knew what happened in less time than it took to punch a number into a cell phone. Her presence, and that of her team, would be all over town in a heartbeat. One stranger was enough to attract attention. Three were guaranteed to be the number-one topic of the morning coffee group at the local cafe. In their line of work, that was never helpful.
At Lily’s question, Jayne winced and said, “Yes and no. You’re right in that it will spread over town in nothing flat. Strangers camped out at my house is something that will set the gossip trail on fire hot enough it will need the wildfire specialists to put it out. That said, with you staying here I can at least somewhat control the gossip because, you see, Ms. Avergne, you and your team are my friends from college.” She made the last statement with a very satisfied look on her face.
Lily squinted and studied the good sheriff for at least a full minute. On the face of it, the plan sounded pretty solid and plausible. There was a little but in the mix, however, and it was significant enough to deflate Jayne’s bubble of satisfaction. “I don’t mean to undermine your great theory, but I am relatively certain that story is not going to fly.”
Jayne’s brow furrowed. “Why not?”
Lily gave her a small smile and inclined her head. “For starters, if we’re such good friends, why won’t you call me by my given name? If this ruse is going to fly, you will have to call me Lily, and I’m not sure you can do that.”
“It’ll work,” Quarles insisted and now refused to meet her eyes.
“No, it won’t.” She was just as insistent as she wasn’t wrong on this.
Jayne’s face took on the dark cast again as she looked out somewhere over Lily’s head as if someone was out there who would back her up. Her shoulders stiffened once more, and all of her earlier calmness faded. “Look. You’re starting to piss me off. It’s a plausible plan, so why don’t you believe it will work?”
The sheriff came across as pretty darned bright, yet she was missing the obvious, at least as far as it concerned Lily. She wasn’t seeing the big picture, and in this instance, it was important. “Because all three of us are, or at least look, enough younger than you that there’s no way we’d be in college at the same time. Not unless my team and I were all three child prodigies.”
Jayne Quarles looked to Lily to be in her late thirties or early forties, while Lily knew she appeared to be in her thirties. She’d been very young when she was turned and in the intervening years had aged very, very slowly. It was one of the advantages of being a werewolf. Ava and Kyle were likewise in their early thirties, and both of them looked it. Ava did anyway. Her opinion on Kyle’s appearance was coming solely from a photo Senn had provided to her prior to making this trip.
Jayne opened her mouth and then closed it as the truth of Lily’s words apparently hit her.
Her gaze swept over Lily’s face, and she could see the acceptance settle in. “Shit,” she finally muttered. “You’re right about you, at least. And if your pals look your age, you’re right about them too. Damn, it sounded so good in my head.”
A thought occurred to Lily, and she mulled it over for a few seconds before she decided to run it by Jayne. “How far are you willing to take the charade in order to get us to stay here with you?”
“I don’t want my town upset any more than it already is.”
“All right then. Tell me what this scenario does for you. What if we tell everyone you and I met on a dating site, and I’m here and staying with you because I’ve come to meet you face-to-face. To keep it all aboveboard, my brother and his wife have come along too.”
Surprise, or was it shock, showed in Jayne’s eyes. “What makes you think I go for women?” Was that a trace of outrage she heard?
Lily shrugged. “What difference does it make? It’s a cover.” In her mind, the details weren’t all that critical. She needed to get to work, and if it meant some ruse, then so be it. For her it wasn’t a deception in that she did prefer women. She didn’t know where the sheriff fell on that score and honestly didn’t care. It was simply a means to the end. At least it would be easier to pretend to be interested in the sheriff than it would be some big burly man. In fact, it would be entertaining to pretend interest in the sheriff, particularly if it bugged her, and Lily suspected it would.
The silence that hung between spoke volumes. The sheriff wanted to argue, Lily could see it in her eyes, yet Lily suspected she was unable to come up with an alternate plan better than what she’d just proposed. “Okay, as much as I hate to admit it, I think your grand plan could actually work. I’ve been single for quite a while, and more than one of the busybodies in town have been trying to find a girlfriend for me. Most people don’t even think twice about the online dating thing. Some of the old folks, sure, but to everyone else, it’s the way it is anymore.”
Girlfriend. So, she had inadvertently hit that nail on the head. Staying at the sheriff’s house was starting to hold a lot more appeal than when she first brought it up. How Kyle and Ava were going to feel about being cast as a married couple was an unknown. During the one mission she’d worked with Ava, she’d been impressed both with her powers and her personality. Ava was smart and skilled, and she was pretty sure she’d roll with anything Lily asked of her. Kyle was more of a wild card. Never having worked with him before, she didn’t have a handle on his personality or how he functioned in a team. Word came down from on high that he was a good recruit, and the Jägers felt he had a long and powerful future. That said, she hoped he would agree to their impromptu plan.
“Agreed,” Lily said and stepped back toward the house until she was standing next to Jayne. “Online dating is the bar scene of the new century. I kind of liked the bar-scene style, it was always fun to watch people in the wild, but the world does move on. Now, since we are potential girlfriends, I suggest we start this all over.” She smiled broadly and held out her hand. “Hello, my name is Lily Avergne, and I am very glad to meet you.”
Jayne looked down at her hand for a moment and then returned Lily’s smile. It did something very nice to her face. “I’m Jayne Quarles.” She took Lily’s hand in hers.
The shock that roared through Lily’s body the moment their flesh touched made her head jerk back. The surprise she felt showed on Jayne’s face as well. “Who are you?” Jayne said in a whisper. “What are you?”
*
“Son of a bitch. How much money do you suppose they pay a sheriff in these parts?” The words passed through Kyle’s lips before he could stop them, but in his defense, this place was some kind of crazy. He’d brought the car to a stop before the big log house and then just sat there staring without making a move to get out. The route Siri had taken them on didn’t quite work out, and so he’d had to call Lily to finally get directions he could follow. The surprise once he got here was twofold: first that they were sitting in front of a monster house and second that they weren’t at one of the motels they’d passed going through town. Frankly, he was probably most surprised at the latter. Why Lily didn’t already have their rooms booked was outside of normal protocol, but then again, she was in charge, and he’d been taught to follow their fearless leader, whoever he or she might be on a given hunt, and to do so without question. That didn’t mean he couldn’t question something like the salary of a county sheriff.
Ava leaned forward in her seat and stared out the windshield, her long hair swinging around her face. “No kidding. This place is amazing. How big do you think it is? Four, five thousand square feet?”
If he was to speculate, he’d say closer to five thousand. He might not be an accountant, but he was smart enough to realize there was no way this place was feasible on a county employee’s salary. The taxes alone had to be huge, even in a small county like this one. There had to be a story, and he was itching to know what it was. “Maybe she has family money or a husband with a million-dollar job.” Both were pretty good guesses, he thought.
Ava was still staring out the windshield. “Maybe, but good grief, who’d need to work with the kind of money it takes to own a place like this? This is worth half a mil if it’s worth a dime. I sure wouldn’t be putting on a uniform and heading in to work every day.”
“Right there with you. I’d be a man of leisure, and I know I could do it well.” He turned to look at her and wink. He didn’t qualify his statement by saying he’d never give up his work for the Jägers. It was too much a part of him now and the part that made him feel almost normal. He’d be crazy to walk away from that. A regular job though, yeah, he’d give that up in a second.
“Come on,” Ava said as she reached for the door handle. “Let’s find out what’s going on, and while we’re doing that, we’ll get a chance to see what this place looks like on the inside. If it’s anything like the outside, I’m sure we’ll be impressed.”
“Yeah, let’s check it out.” Ava was right. The house was massive and built from gorgeous red logs. He didn’t know his trees very well, but he recognized beautiful wood when he saw it. The porch ran the full length of the front of the house, and the underside of the overhang was fully finished tongue-and-groove cedar. It was pretty damned impressive. Somebody had paid a lot of money to build the house that was obviously planned down to every little detail. Even the grounds were impressive. At least an acre of grass surrounded the house and attached four-car garage. It was hard to see beyond the yard in the dark, but he’d bet the scenery beyond was as beautiful as what they could see here.
He and Ava got out and mounted the steps to the porch. Before he could knock on the wide door with the oval glass insert, it opened, and a short, beautiful woman stood holding it ajar. An introduction wasn’t necessary. He’d recognize Lily Avergne anywhere. The thing that surprised him was that the pictures he’d seen didn’t do her justice. She was quite beautiful, with an air about her that radiated something special. He felt an immediate draw to her.
“Kyle, Ava, come on in.” She beckoned them through the door.
Pulling his attention away from his leader and to his surroundings, he let out a breath. Yup, he and Ava got it right. The inside was as incredible as the outside. They stepped into a great room with soaring ceilings, log walls, and massive windows. A huge staircase led to a second level, its banister made of beautifully carved and polished wood. Two sofas and several overstuffed chairs were clustered around a river-rock fireplace that he swore was big enough to burn half a tree. He almost whistled and then caught himself.
Another woman was in the room, though he was so caught up by the coolness factor of the house’s interior he hadn’t noticed her initially. Now that he did, he took stock. She was tall and blond, and his first thought was Viking. His second was sheriff. He was confident number two was the right one and fairly confident number one wasn’t far from the mark either. He held out his hand. “Kyle Miller.” His mother had
always taught him to be polite.
She shook it. “Sheriff Jayne Quarles.” Her grip was firm, her hand cool, and her expression neutral. He had a feeling she was one unflappable woman. Definitely Viking.
“Sheriff,” Ava said and stepped forward. “I’m Ava Crescent.”
He was carefully watching Ava’s body language as she took the other woman’s hand. Ava didn’t flinch, and in fact a little smile flitted across her face. That was a good sign in his book. In their previous work together he’d learned that her skill in reading people was unmatched. He trusted her first impressions.
“As long as you’re here, please call me Jayne.” She released Ava’s hand and stuck both of hers into the pockets of her pants. At least she didn’t cross her arms over her chest.
Kyle still raised an eyebrow at her invitation. Now this was a new twist. Not once in the missions he’d been on so far had law enforcement been quite so accommodating or casual. Usually it was the polar opposite. He wasn’t sure he even knew the given names of any of the deputies he’d worked with since joining the order. Off the top of his head, he couldn’t think of a single one. “Okay, Jayne,” he said, trying the name out on his tongue. Felt okay. She seemed like a Jayne, whatever that meant. “So you two want to bring Ava and me up to speed?”
Lily stepped in, her dark hair shining in the glow of the overhead light. She was a tiny woman whose presence came off as so much bigger. “Why don’t you two have a seat. This one’s going to play a little different from any of the missions you’ve been on thus far.”
Not a big revelation at this point. This one had started out different right from the beginning. Despite his obvious delight at being paired with Ava, the configuration of the team had struck him as unusual when he’d received his orders. The pairing of a werewolf, a witch, and a necromancer was a little odd.
She Wolf Page 5